Best of 2022: What is the Christian Response to the Overturning of Roe v Wade?

Hi, this is Bill Meyer with CORE Christianity. We're so privileged to be able to answer your questions on this program.

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What is the Christian response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade? Well, that's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch Adriel live right now in the studio on our YouTube channel and send us a message that way. And of course, you can always email us your question at questions at corechristianity.com. Well, a major decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court just a couple of hours ago and it's causing a lot of turmoil in our country. Those of us who are pro-life are really overjoyed with that decision, but for many, they are not. And I'm wondering, Adriel, what would you say is the proper response for Christians in the face of this decision?

Yeah, Bill. Well, when I found out this morning, I was thankful to the Lord, rejoicing truly. And I do believe for Christians, I mean, you asked what is the proper response. I think any time that government enacts just laws or does things the right way justly, that that's something that we should rejoice over, that we should give thanks to God. I mean, this is a part of the job of civil government, if you will. They're called to carry out justice and justice isn't defined by them, whatever we want it to be.

It's something that's rooted in God's word, ultimately in the way the Lord created the world. Proverbs 21 verse 15 says, when justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous. And so I think, one, we can celebrate, we can be thankful, we can be thankful for the hard work that many people have put in pursuing justice. And ultimately, we're thanking God for this.

And there's a difference between rejoicing and gloating. I think too much discourse around these kinds of things, political discourse around these discussions is sort of happy to just... We wanna argue and argumentatively own our political opponents, the people with whom we disagree. That's not our goal, first and foremost, or at all. As Christians, we wanna advance the cause of Jesus Christ.

And there are many people who are upset with this decision. We wanna help them to see the goodness, the truth, and the beauty behind protecting the lives of the vulnerable. And so I think we pray, we have discussions, conversations. I got into a conversation with a family member of mine recently who asked me very bluntly, what is your church's stance on these things? And at some points, the conversation got heated, but really focusing on what's good and right and true according to scripture and God's holy law. And we also wanna pray that people come to repentance and faith.

As I said, there are many people who are very angry, very upset about this. We read in 2 Corinthians 4, verses three and four, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. We need to pray that that veil is lifted, that people will see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

And in seeing that, that they would rejoice in that which is good and true as well. We also, I think, Bill, need to consider how the church, we Christians, can support pregnant women pursue the thriving of life in all of its stages. I think this is important for us. This is a good thing.

This is a positive thing. And we wanna be pro-life. As I said, there, in all of the stages of life, as a part of the sixth commandment, we're called not to murder, but positively, we're called to pursue all of those things which lead to the thriving of life for ourselves and for our neighbors. And so there's a lot for us to consider there and to pray about and really to be active in. And then the last thing I'll say is that we need to pray. We need to pray for our churches, pray for pregnancy care clinics.

I don't know if you've seen Bill, but there've been acts of violence in recent days toward these pregnancy care clinics that really provide a wonderful service in the community. And so we need to pray for peace, for safety, and pray for the hearts of those who are filled with anger right now over this decision and pray that the Lord would raise up many children, many, many children who know and love Jesus. And so those are the things I've been thinking about at least this morning. And so maybe right now actually would be a good opportunity to pray for some of those things. And so would you join me, brothers and sisters, in just going before the Lord right now. Father, we do thank you, Lord God, and we rejoice, Lord, in many respects.

It's just a bright day, something that we're thankful for, Lord, and we thank you for the way this decision has gone. We ask, Lord God, that you would give us wisdom as your people to care for those who are in need, to come alongside of those who are blind, in unbelief, in sin, to bring in the truth of the gospel, the truth of your law, Lord, the goodness of your law, the goodness of what you call us to, ultimately the love of you and the love of our neighbors. And so we pray that you would help us to that end as well, and we pray for the peace of all of your churches. We pray, Lord, for your protection over these pregnancy care clinics that are out there. And we pray, Lord God, that you would change the hearts of those who are grieved and angered even by this decision, Lord God, that you would draw people to yourself. I pray also, Lord, for those who have had abortions and, Lord, some of them, they take pride in that.

Others, Lord, I know that there are many women who are grieved by the trauma of that, by the sin of that. I do pray, Lord, for all of them, Lord, that they would experience the forgiveness and grace of Jesus Christ, the light and love that you give when we turn to you, Lord. And Father, again, be with us and be with this nation, Lord, in helping us in all things to pursue, Lord God, you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thanks for that, Adriel.

And I love your comment about making sure that while we celebrate this victory, we don't gloat over it. And I would just encourage all Christians to be really careful what you post on social media over the next few days, because you're going to see a lot of, as we've said, a lot of angry people, a lot of really negative comments about this decision. Let's just answer as Jesus would have us respond to those things. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, you name it, we would love to hear from you. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Eric in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Eric, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel. I wanted to ask about baptism. In church I go to, we... The church baptize mainly infants, but also adults, and recently the pastor said that baptism saves you. So I was wondering how that works. Does baptism give you faith to believe? The other question I have is, one of my friends once told me that baptism should be only after you become a Christian. That's when you should have it done. So I wanted to ask you about that, too.

Is that right? So those are my questions. Okay, two questions there.

Let me start with the second one. Should it just be for those who believe, that is, those who have made a profession of faith, repented of their sins and are now coming to the waters of baptism? You see so many examples of this in the New Testament. Of course, you have the early preaching of the apostles, the disciples, and they're making converts. And anytime someone, an adult, is converted to the faith, they're called to be baptized. I mean, this is what Jesus commanded in Matthew chapter 28 with regard to making disciples. So in that sense, everyone, even those who believe in the baptism of infants, like I believe, believes also that adults need to be baptized, those who are outside of the church, the church community, but then come to faith in Jesus Christ from the outside. They're welcomed in on the basis of their profession of faith and turning to Christ, and they receive the sign and the seal of holy baptism.

The question is, what about our children? You see, throughout the Bible under the old covenant, it was very clear that God included the children of believers as a part of the worshiping community. He commanded Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 to give his infant sons a sign of circumcision, the sign of the covenant, which was this entryway sign, if you will, into the visible community of Israel, marking them off as the holy people of God. And so the question is, you know, is that reality, you know, the reality that God includes children, in particular the children of believers in the worshiping community, as a part of the, quote, unquote, holy or set-apart people, is that a reality still under the new covenant?

Well, it seems to me like it is. I mean, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that the children of even one believer, even if, you know, you have a couple and only one of the parents is a believer, he says that those children are considered holy to the Lord, otherwise they would be unclean. The language that he uses there is the language of the covenant community. The holy are those that belong to the Lord. It doesn't mean that they're saved, if you will, born and saved. It means that they're a part of the covenant community, the worshiping community, and as such the proper recipients of the sign of the covenant. For us, as Christians living under the new covenant, that sign is baptism.

Circumcision in the Old Testament was sort of like this type of baptism, if you will, the covenant sign of entry into the community of faith. And so for the children of believers, I would say that they're the proper recipients of baptism, even infants, and for those who were converted later in life from outside of the church, then they're there to receive the sign of holy baptism. Now, what does baptism do? Does baptism make someone saved, if you will?

Does it infuse us with faith and hope and love? That's the position of some churches. It's the position of the Roman Catholic Church, for example, and those who believe in what's called baptismal regeneration. That is, through the washing of water in baptism, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, every person who is baptized is undoubtedly regenerated. And so that is the position of some Christians.

That's not my position. I believe that baptism is this covenant sign and seal of the promises of God. It's where the promises of God, the very gospel, are exhibited to us.

They're tokens of God's goodwill and love toward his people. And it could very well be that a child who's baptized is born again. I mean, it's the Spirit of God ultimately that works. Jesus says in John 3, the wind blows where it wishes.

You know, you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where it's going. God's Spirit is absolutely sovereign. He can do whatever he wants. But it could be also that a child who's baptized doesn't come to faith, if you will, isn't regenerated until much later in life. And so that doesn't invalidate their baptism. The promises of baptism, the promises of the gospel, are just as sure and real even in that circumstance. And so the grace of baptism, if you will, isn't necessarily tied to the moment of its administration. And I think that that's a key point to bring in.

Look, there are a couple, I would say, of ditches to reckon here. I think that there are those who just look at baptism in and of itself, just the washing with water, and say, yes, you're baptized. That means you are undoubtedly born again and you're going to be in heaven. And of course, that's not necessarily even what the Roman Catholic Church believes.

They'll say, yeah, you can be regenerated, but you can fall out of a state of grace. You can become a child of God in baptism, but then be condemned along with the devil and all those who follow him, if you fall away from your baptism, if you will. And then there are on the other side, those who just minimize, I think, the significance of baptism and the fact that God uses these holy signs and seals that he gives us in his word to communicate his grace to his people, his gospel promises. And so it's not that baptism is meaningless, but it doesn't do anything. No, it's this real means of grace. And the promises of God in the gospel that are exhibited in our baptism are received by faith alone.

And so that's, I think, the best way to understand this. And I think it makes sense of many of the passages in the New Testament specifically that talk about the power of baptism, the efficacy of baptism, if you will, so often in places like Romans chapter six, Paul points believers to their baptism to remind them of their union with Jesus Christ and their identity as the baptized, as those who belong to God. And so baptism is a real gift that God gives us that reminds us of who we are in Jesus. The old man has died, if you will, been buried, and we are alive from the dead in Christ. We were crucified with him, if you will, in baptism. And so we follow him and live for him in life. Thank you for your questions, brother.

Great explanation on a controversial issue. Thank you so much for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, maybe about doctrine or theology or maybe how your Christian walk is, you know, played out in today's culture, which can be challenging at times. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We also want to tell you about a wonderful new resource that we have available here at Core Christianity. It's absolutely free and it will help you understand the Bible more clearly. Yeah, as you know, here at Core Christianity, one of our goals is to help you know what the scriptures teach and not just sort of cherry pick verses here and there, but to understand the Word of God as a whole, you know, tracing the themes that we see in scripture throughout the history of redemption, the covenants, law, gospel, the kingdom of God, these themes that are so central to the Bible that so often we don't understand at all. And so that's why we've created this resource, Five Themes to Help You Understand the Bible. And we're going to go through, in this resource, we go through many of these themes. And so I hope that you get ahold of this resource.

It's going to bless you in your personal study of scripture and help you better grasp the Bible's overarching story and how it all points to Jesus. It's a great resource. It's yours for free by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for Five Themes to Help You Understand the Bible. Of course, you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go back to the phones. Sandy is on the line from Oklahoma.

Sandy, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I had an abortion. I was married.

My husband told me he'd leave me if I had it. It was severely disabled and the doctor said if it had lived, it would be institutionalized. So the government would just take over and the parents have no choice. But how does that work? I'm a Christian.

I do believe God has forgiven me. I tried to do what was best for my child. But the government states they're going to take our children or we can only get our tubes tied at a certain age.

Where's the light in all this? Well, Sandy, thank you for calling in and just sharing with us, for being vulnerable there and I realize the complexity of these situations. Now, of course, one of the tragedies I think is we are looking at life now and we know so much more than we did in years prior.

You can do genetic tests on your children and determine all sorts of things that in the past we wouldn't have been able to determine. And is it right then in those situations for us to say, well, my child is going to be severely handicapped or have some sort of disability? I think I need to end the child's life.

Well, no, I don't think that that's the right thing. I do believe, as you said, that there is forgiveness. I know that there is forgiveness for those who have had abortions and who call upon the name of the Lord. And I know that it's not just the sin of abortion, but there's also the trauma associated with it.

And it sounds to me like based on what you were saying related to the things that your husband was saying at the time as well, that this was a very tense and difficult situation. But again, I would say fundamentally, when we think about life, the lives of the vulnerable, the lives of those even who are sick and incapacitated, we would say that that's still a genuine human life, a gift from God, and a gift that we should cherish and want to cherish, and that that life should be cultivated and cared for and nourished. And yet we see in our culture today and in society just a significant minimizing of life, not just children who we can determine that they're going to have disabilities, but just for the sake of our own convenience.

I mean, this is what we have by and large in society today. And so it's very much the opposite, I think, of the vision that God gives us in his word with regard to cherishing life, cultivating life, caring for life. And so what is the good? The good is that when we call upon the name of the Lord, even when we've done these things, and the Bible says these are sins, I mean, yes, there are complex issues at play here.

But there's also right and wrong. And the reality is, I mean, we come before the Lord, and we come before the Lord, each of us in need of his grace desperately. And the hope that we have is, no matter how bad our sins are, that Christ's blood is sufficient to cleanse us from our sins and to remove all of the stain of those sins. I think of what the psalmist said in Psalm 103, verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. And so I think that there is healing, there is hope, there is forgiveness in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we cling to that. And we lament and mourn the difficulty or the complexity of many of these decisions.

We know that we know, right, it's not always as simple as sometimes we talk about it as. And so realizing that it seems, sister, like this was a really complex, a very difficult thing, heartbreaking tragedy, but just know that there is grace and mercy and forgiveness and healing in Christ. And so, again, thank you for calling.

May the Lord be with you and with many others who are wrestling with these things as well right now. This is Corps of Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are still open. In fact, we're going to be recording a second episode of Corps of Christianity after our live program ends today, so you still have time to call in. We'll be taking your calls for the next 35 minutes or so. You might want to jot this phone number down.

It's 833-THE-CORE, 833-THE-CORE, or 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Andrea, who's calling in from Missouri. Andrea, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, my question is I'm reading through Joshua, and the Lord commands Joshua to devote to destruction all these other nations, including the women and children. And I understand that God can elect whoever he chooses to, and he loved Jacob and hated Esau, but did he hate all of these children and the entire other nations? And how do we rationalize that with knowing that God loves us and loves our children and believing families?

How do I piece all that together? Yeah, excellent question, Andrea. One that we've received on the broadcast before, just a quick resource for you to consider because we don't have a ton of time, but I think that this book does a really good job going deeper into this question, in particular, the quote unquote holy wars that we see in the Old Testament. It's called The Skeletons in God's Closet by Joshua Ryan Butler, and he highlights many of the circumstances surrounding Israel's invasion, if you will, of Canaan and some of the misconceptions. Yes, it was clear that God called his people to settle in the land of Canaan. And in part, what the Canaanites were doing, we've just been talking about abortion, one of the things that they were doing was sacrificing their children to the pagan gods. God had given the people there in the land, the Canaanites, the Moabites, so on and so forth, time to repent, time to turn from their wicked ways. Hundreds of years, actually, we read this in the book of Genesis specifically, and yet there came a point where God said, okay, enough is enough. And his people coming out of slavery in Egypt, they weren't colonizers in the sense that we sometimes think of them just destroying weaker people. They were coming to execute God's judgment on these wicked nations. And in one sense, it was a picture of the intrusion of the final judgment that is one day going to come, and that is why we call all people everywhere right now to turn to Jesus, to experience his grace and mercy, because today is the day of salvation. But there is coming a day of judgment, and so we cling to the mercy of the Lord.